Sister Sayalay Susila

Sayalay Susilā was born in Pahang, Malaysia in 1963 and ordained as a Theravada Buddhist nun in the Burmese tradition at the age of 28 at the Malaysian Buddhist Meditation Centre in Penang, Malaysia. Prior to ordaining, Sayalay developed a keen interest in insight meditation while at the University of Science Malaysia obtaining a degree in mass communications (1988). After her ordination in 1991, she went to Myanmar where she practiced intensively for nearly three years under the guidance of the famous Venerable U Pandita Sayadaw at Panditarama Monastery. In 1994, wishing to cultivate concentration meditation, she moved to Pa Auk Forest Monastery, Myanmar. She placed herself under the renowned monk, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and remained in the forest for 14 years. She also studied the Abhidhamma, ancient discourses, and Pali language with him. Over the years, she also practiced different meditation methods in Burma, such as those taught by Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, Mogok Sayadaw, Sayagyi U Ba Khin and S.N.Goenka. As a result Sayalay has become an unusually accomplished teacher able to present the subtleties of the Buddha’s teachings in a simple and direct way. In particular, she is able to present the most profound division of the teaching, the Abhidhamma, in a lucid manner grounded not in pedantic philosophy but in actual meditation experience. Sayalay has travelled worldwide in order to give formal lectures on Abhidhamma and to teach meditation retreats throughout the US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Latvia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. She is the author of Unravelling of Mind and Body through Abhidhamma.